U.S. patent number 5,812,117 [Application Number 08/802,944] was granted by the patent office on 1998-09-22 for method for inputting information using a selectable soft keyboard.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.. Invention is credited to Byoung-seoup Moon.
United States Patent |
5,812,117 |
Moon |
September 22, 1998 |
Method for inputting information using a selectable soft
keyboard
Abstract
A portable information terminal adopting a soft keyboard
includes screen display device for receiving screen data relating
to the soft keyboard and displaying the soft keyboard on the
display screen. The soft keyboard includes an information key
region where the information keys of a predetermined number are
arranged in two lines or less, and a scroll key region where one or
more scroll direction keys are displayed for scrolling the
information keys to select the information keys displayed on the
information key region. A method for inputting information using
the soft keyboard includes the steps of displaying the soft
keyboard on a display screen wherein the soft keyboard includes an
information key region where the information keys of a
predetermined number are arranged in two lines or less, and a
scroll key region where one or more scroll direction keys are
displayed for scrolling the information key regions to select the
information keys displayed on the information key, inputting an
intended key using a pen, and determinating the input key, wherein,
if the input key is the information key, a code corresponding to
the information key is generated and, if the input key is the
scroll key, the information key region is scrolled. Accordingly,
the area of the soft keyboard occupying the screen is reduced, to
improve the convenience of data input operations.
Inventors: |
Moon; Byoung-seoup (Suwon,
KR) |
Assignee: |
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
(Kyungki-do, KR)
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Family
ID: |
19405207 |
Appl.
No.: |
08/802,944 |
Filed: |
February 21, 1997 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
Issue Date |
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470231 |
Jun 6, 1995 |
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Foreign Application Priority Data
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Dec 29, 1994 [KR] |
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1994-39003 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
345/169; 345/168;
345/171; 345/684 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06F
3/0236 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
G06F
3/023 (20060101); G09G 005/34 (); G09G 005/08 ();
G09G 005/00 () |
Field of
Search: |
;345/56,123,124,125,146,156,159,160,168,169,171,172,173
;364/419.01,419.02,419.03,419.16 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Saras; Steven J.
Assistant Examiner: Shankar; Vijay
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Leydig, Voit & Mayer, Ltd.
Parent Case Text
This disclosure is a continuation of patent application Ser. No.
08/470,231, filed Jun. 6, 1995, now abandoned.
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A method for inputting information using a soft keyboard
comprising:
(a) displaying a soft keyboard including an information key region
having a plurality of information keys arranged in, at most, two
rows or two columns for inputting information, a scroll key region
having at least one scroll direction key for scrolling the
information keys, a keyboard selection key region having keyboard
selection keys for selecting and shifting between keyboards having
the information keys arranged in up to two rows or up to two
columns, and an end key region having an end key for terminating
information input through the information keys;
(b) selecting one from the information keys, scroll direction key,
keyboard selection keys, and end keys using a pen; and
(c) determining the key selected, and, if the key selected is an
information key, generating a code corresponding to the information
key, if the key selected is the scroll key, scrolling the
information key region, if the key selected is a keyboard selection
key, displaying a keyboard having the information keys in up to two
rows or up to two columns according to the keyboard selection key
selected, and, if the key selected is the end key, terminating
operation of the soft keyboard.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the keyboard selection key region
includes keyboard selection keys for selecting keyboards in
different languages.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein the keyboard selection key region
includes keyboard selection keys for selecting between alphanumeric
and alphabetic keyboards.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a portable information terminal
and an information input method using a software keyboard, and more
particularly, to a portable information terminal and an information
input method where a software keyboard (hereinafter, referred to as
a soft keyboard) occupying a small region is displayed and
information is input via the displayed soft keyboard.
Recently, with the coming of the information Age, computers have
been used to efficiently process and manage large quantities of
information. However, a conventional computer system can process
the information in a fixed position only, and such fixed-position
"passive" processing of information will not sustain future
needs.
Accordingly, microcomputers in the form of portable personal
information terminals will likely dominate the next generation of
information processing. The portable computer for this purpose has
to be quite small in size. Therefore, as the input device of such a
portable computer, handwriting recognition means for inputting
information using a writing instrument (e.g., a ballpoint pen)
should be widely used instead of the conventional hardware
keyboard. However, using such pen-input recognition means as the
input device, the input data cannot be perfectly recognized with
current technology; accordingly some kind of soft keyboard is also
required as an auxiliary means.
Soft keyboards have been used in many conventional portable
information terminals, since the above-described limitations of a
pen-input recognition means were appreciated. This soft keyboard is
mainly called as an "on-line" keyboard and is established in a
display device by software means, for the input of data which
cannot be input by pen (handwriting). Here, the data is input by
merely pointing with the pen. The arrangement of the soft keyboard
is similar to that of a general desktop personal computer (PC).
This kind of arrangement provides a customary setting for data
input, since anyone familiar with the keyboard arrangement of a PC
will find operation easy.
However, there are problems in adopting the soft keyboard having
the above keyboard arrangement for a portable personal terminal
having a small display device. That is, since the keyboard
arrangement of a PC is best-suitable for two-handed input,
difficulties arise when inputting information using only one pen,
which is presumably performed with one hand. Also, since the
arrangement of the conventional soft keyboard coincides with that
of the ordinary PC keyboard consisting of a plurality of keyboard
rows, the area occupied by the keyboard is great, which is not idea
for the display in a computer having a small display screen. To
overcome this problem, the soft keyboard may be shifted on the
screen; however, this causes a great deal of inconvenience when
inputting large amounts of data.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a portable
information terminal adopting a soft keyboard whose
screen-occupying area is reduced, to minimize data input
inconveniences caused by a large screen-occupying area.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an
information input method using the above soft keyboard.
To achieve the above object, there is provided a portable
information terminal adopting a soft keyboard, which comprises
screen display means for receiving screen data relating to the soft
keyboard and displaying the soft keyboard on the display screen,
wherein the soft keyboard comprises an information key region where
the information keys of a predetermined number are arranged in two
lines or less, and a scroll key region where one or more scroll
direction keys are displayed for scrolling the information keys to
select the information keys displayed on the information key
region.
To achieve another object, a method for inputting information using
a soft keyboard comprises the steps of: (a) displaying the soft
keyboard on a display screen, wherein the soft keyboard comprises
an information key region where the information keys of a
predetermined number are arranged in two lines or less, and a
scroll key region where one or more scroll direction keys are
displayed for scrolling the information key regions to select the
information keys displayed on the information key; (b) inputting an
intended key using a pen; and (c) determinating the input key,
wherein, if the input key is the information key, a code
corresponding to the information key is generated and, if the input
key is the scroll key, the information key region is scrolled.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The above objects and advantages of the present invention will
become more apparent by describing in detail a preferred embodiment
thereof with reference to the attached drawings in which:
FIG. 1 is a block diagram for illustrating the structure of a
portable information terminal adopting a soft keyboard according to
the present invention;
FIGS. 2A-2D are diagrams for illustrating a soft keyboard displayed
on the screen of liquid crystal display of FIG. 1; and
FIG. 3 is a flow chart for illustrating an information input method
using a soft keyboard according to the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
A portable information terminal shown in FIG. 1 comprises a
microprocessor unit (MPU) 10, a keyboard interface 20, an I/O
interface 30, a bus 40, a liquid crystal display (LCD) 50, a pen
digitizer 60, an A/D converter 70, a display memory 80, a ROM 90,
and a RAM 100.
In the case of connecting a hardware keyboard (not shown), the
hardware keyboard is connected to MPU 10 via keyboard interface 20.
Pen digitizer 60 recognizes coordinates indicated by the contact of
pen input means (not shown). The recognized coordinate location is
digitized via A/D converter 70 and is transferred to MPU 10 via bus
40. I/O interface 30 takes charge of the interface of input/output
device, and, if necessary, a plurality of I/O interfaces can be
installed therein. It is generally preferred that a portable
information terminal be small and lightweight for convenient
carrying.
The operation of the portable information terminal according to the
present invention will be described below.
MPU 10 outputs a soft keyboard screen data to display memory 80 for
displaying the soft keyboard on the screen of LCD 50. As a result,
the soft keyboard appears on the screen of LCD 50. Here, a user
uses a pen to touch a coordinate location on pen digitizer 60
corresponding to an intended key while viewing the soft keyboard on
the screen of LCD 50. Then, A/D converter 70 digitizes the
contacted coordinate location of pen digitizer 60 and outputs the
digitized coordinates to bus 40. MPU 10 receives the coordinates
via bus 40 and converts the coordinates into a key code
corresponding to the intended key. Therefore, information can be
input by a volumeless and weightless soft keyboard instead of the
hardware keyboard. Here, in order to reduce the area of the soft
keyboard occupying the screen of LCD 50, the soft keyboard
comprises an information key region where some of the information
keys in a selected keyboard (e.g., alphanumeric keys) are arranged
in two rows or less, or two columns or less, a scroll key region
where one or more scroll direction keys are displayed for scrolling
the keys shown on the screen of LCD 50 in order to bring unshown
keys into view, and a keyboard selection key region where keyboard
selection keys are displayed for selecting a keyboard among various
kinds of keyboards and displaying the selected keyboard on the
keyboard information region. Also, the soft keyboard has an end key
region used when terminating key input.
Referring to FIGS. 2A-2D, the soft keyboard will be described in
detail.
FIGS. 2A-2D are diagrams for illustrating a soft keyboard displayed
on the screen of LCD 50 of FIG. 1 according to the present
invention. The soft keyboard according to the present invention has
a plurality of soft keys. (FIGS. 2A-2D show the case where the
keyboard selection key for English-letter input is selected among
the keyboard selection keys.) A plurality of soft keys are
classified according to function into information key regions A1,
B1, C1 and D1 showing some of the information keys, scroll key
regions A2, B2, C2 and D2 for horizontally or vertically scrolling
the keys, keyboard selection key regions A3, B3, C3 and D3 for
selecting an intended keyboard, and end key regions A4, B4, C4 and
D4. Here, FIG. 2A shows an information key region A1 composed of
one row, FIG. 2B shows an information key region B1 of two rows,
FIG. 2C shows an information key region C1 of one column, and FIG.
2D shows an information key region D1 of two columns. As shown in
FIGS. 2B and 2D, the arrangement of the frequently used information
keys may be fixed, with the other keys being selectively arranged.
Additionally, the end keys used when the input of data is
terminated are arranged in the end key regions A4, B4, C4 and D4.
Also, scroll key regions A2, B2, C2 and D2 may be variably
arranged. In FIGS. 2A to 2D, a, b, c and d represent four kinds of
arrangement types according to the types (up, down, right and left)
and position of the scroll direction keys.
FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating an information input method
using a soft keyboard (as shown in FIGS. 2A-2D) displayed on the
screen of LCD 50 in the portable information terminal of FIG.
1.
First, MPU 10 of FIG. 1 outputs screen data of the soft keyboard to
display memory 80. Here, the screen data momentarily stored in
display memory 80 is output to LCD 50, so that the soft keyboard is
displayed on the screen of LCD 50 (step 310). Subsequently, a user
selects an intended key while viewing the soft keyboard on the
screen of LCD 50, and contacts the corresponding position with a
pen to input the intended key (step 320). Here, the pen may be a
contact means which can provide pressure according to the input
method of pen digitizer 60 or a specific stylus pen. Subsequently,
pen digitizer 60 converts the contacted coordinates of the pen into
the digital data via A/D converter 70 and transmits the digital
data to MPU 10 via bus 40. Here, MPU 10 determines whether the
converted digital data is the keyboard selection key of keyboard
selection key regions A4, B4, C4 and D4 shown in FIGS. 2A-2D (step
330). In step 330, if the keyboard selection key is input, MPU 10
outputs soft keyboard screen data to display memory 80 for
displaying the selected keyboard on the screen of LCD 50, as
described above (step 340). If the digital data is not the keyboard
selection key in step 330, it is determined whether the converted
digital data is the information-key of information key regions A1,
B1, C1 and D1 (step 350). If the digital data is the information
key in step 350, a code corresponding to the key is generated (step
360). That is, the key input is received as the same state as the
corresponding key of the hardware keyboard is pushed. Meanwhile, if
the digital data is not the information key in step 350, it is
determined whether the converted digital data is the scroll key of
scroll key regions A2, B2, C2 and D2 (step 370). If the digital
data is the scroll key in step 370, the information key regions are
scrolled (step 380). Here, information key regions A1, B1, C1 and
D1 are horizontally or vertically scrolled according to the
arrangement of the soft keyboard shown in FIGS. 2A-2D. Meanwhile,
if the digital data is not the scroll key in step 370, it is
determined whether the digital data is the end key (step 390).
Here, if the digital data is the end key, the input of information
is terminated (step 400), but if not, step 320 and steps 340, 360
or 380 are iterated.
As described above, the portable information terminal according to
the present invention receives information by contacting the
position of a corresponding soft keyboard with a pen when part of
the keys are displayed on the screen of the LCD or the
corresponding information keys are displayed on the screen using a
horizontal or vertical scroll key, if necessary. Therefore, the
area of screen occupied by the soft keyboard is minimized so that
the inconvenience generated during inputting of data is
reduced.
* * * * *